A Change Would Do You Good
by Ultrawoman
Summary: Zoe just needs someone to make her feel better for one night, but Wade can't let it happen and he needs her to understand why. [Alternate scenes for 2x21/2x22]
1. Part 1 of 2

**A/N: I thought I had got through the end of Season 2 of HoD** **without needing to rewrite anything else. Not so! lol Now, I'm never not going to have a problem with a guy who cheats, BUT I can't exactly say that Wade is the only one to do wrong in the Zade relationship. Zoe is not innocent. She never cheated, but her behaviour bugged me more than once, and so, lets see what we can do about that... ;)**

 _ **(Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and any recognisable dialogue from Hart of Dixie belong to Leila Gerstein and other folks who aren't me).**_

Part 1 of 2

Maybe the last person Wade was expecting to see waiting for him when he got home was Zoe Hart. Of course, he made a joke about her not winning prom queen when he realised she was upset about something. It was easier than actually dealing with the problem, after all, but she couldn't even be goaded into a playful fight tonight.

"I've had a very hard night, and I feel terrible," she told him, obviously tearstained, probably drunk. "So, for a while tonight, I'd like to feel better, and not talk."

Her meaning couldn't have been any clearer and it wasn't that Wade wasn't very, very tempted, but they had been down this road before, and he had come to far to walk the same line all over again.

"Well," he said, shaking his head, "here's what you might call a plot twist, doc. No."

Wade was pretty sure he never saw her eyes go quite that wide before. It might have been funny any other night, but he was all out of humour this go around.

"No?" she echoed. "I don't understand."

"I guess you wouldn't." Wade nodded, still wondering if he knew what he was doing himself, but he had come this far and he planned on seeing it through.

He gestured for Zoe to sit back down then dropped his tool belt and such onto the table and pulled up the other chair to explain to her.

"See, you've had a bad day, I can see that, and the truth is, so have I, but the difference is, mine helped me figure out a few things that I've been struggling with these past few months.

"I hired a contractor to come to the Rammer Jammer today and fix some serious damage. Turned out he was some kind of con artist, and he left me holding onto a supporting beam while he emptied out the register and ran. So, there I was, literally holding the building that I half-own up over my head. Gave me a lot of time to think about some things and, damn, if it didn't hurt too," he said, hand going to his own arm that ached yet, while Zoe looked on.

"The point is a lot of that thinking I was doing was about you. Started out, I was thinking how Lemon was gonna go crazy at me for losing the money and wrecking the place... _again_ , but after a while, when my arms were getting tired and I was wondering how much longer I could keep holding on, I started thinking about you, what I did to hurt you, how things had been with us before.

"We're a real pair of screw ups, doc, you know that?" he told her with a smirk he couldn't help, especially when he saw the expression on her face. "I thought it was just me, at first. Thought I wasn't worthy of nobody, least of all someone like you, but then I looked at how far I come these past few months, and do you know what I realised? I'm doin' alright. I realised that if that roof had come down on my head, there would be people who gave a damn, and people who would want to help me out. Damn it, they actually _did_ come help me out. Twenty people or more showed up at the Rammer Jammer tonight and we fixed up the place, all together, like it was worth something. Like _I_ was worth something."

Zoe blinked at him. "I always knew you were worth something," she said softly.

Wade bit his lip and thought on that a second.

"Yeah, well, maybe," he considered, "but it took me a while to see it, and for all that you're sayin' right now, doc, some of that worthless feeling I had before, that's on you."

There were those wide eyes again, but Wade wasn't quitting, not when he had already come so far.

"You used me, Zoe Hart," he told her straight, with no malice to speak of, just truth. "I'm not denyin' that I let you do it, but that doesn't make it okay. Way back before anything ever happened with you and me, you knew how I felt about you. I know that you knew. Now, I thought I could handle it. You know, when we both said it was just sex and all. Maybe because a part of me hoped you were gonna change your mind eventually. Guess I shoulda known better."

"I _did_ change my mind."

"Did you? Really?" he checked, a little anger creeping in now that Wade couldn't control. "Because from what I hear, even now, after everything, after you and me were supposed to be for real and you were so heartbroken over what I did, you still went running back to George Tucker... _again_!"

"That was a mistake," Zoe all-but yelled, eyes following Wade as he got up from his seat.

"You bet your ass it was," he told her, meeting her eyes. "He's real broken up over Tansy leaving, doc, and that's on you too," he said, pointing a finger at her.

"You don't think I know that?" she yelled, getting up too. "So, what, what's your point? We're both screw ups? Fine, I don't deny it, but what you did to me-"

"What I did to you was the worst thing I coulda done," Wade cut in, just as loud as she was for a minute, and then quiet and sincere as he had ever been in the next moment. "I know what I did. I have to live with it, same as you, and... and it kills me, Zoe. Nothing could hurt as bad as knowing I did that to you and I will be sorry for it for as long as I live, but you gotta realise, I am not the reason your life ain't what you want it to be," he told her firmly. "You're a crazy person, doc, just plain crazy as all get-out. I think you've still got that picture in your head of what your life is supposed to be like and every time things don't match up, you act like it's everybody else's fault, like it's all such a great tragedy being you. Well it ain't.

"Like I said, I hurt you and I'm sorry for that, but for everything else, you gotta look to what _you_ 've been doin' and ask yourself what in the hell the point of it is. Figure out just exactly what it is that makes you happy, doc, and go for it. Stop throwing yourself from one thing to another and one person to another, expecting everybody else to fix it, because they can't."

Zoe bit her lip then swallowed hard, clearly trying not to cry any more than she already had.

"You made me happy once," she reminded him sadly. "I wish you could again."

If anything was going to break Wade right now it was that look in her eyes and the tremble in her voice when she spoke, but he couldn't give in, he couldn't let any chance of them possibly making things work in the future slip away because they both had a rough day.

"I know, me too," he told her, reaching out to gently push her hair back off her face, "but baby, you gotta figure this one out on your own. The truth is... well, the truth is that I love you," he confessed at last, hand lingering at her cheek, "that much I do know for sure, but I also know that you can't forgive me yet for what I did."

When she looked away, he knew he was right, much as he wished he wasn't. Wade had to swallow hard before he could go on.

"Maybe someday you'll be able to, and if you do and you can give me a second chance, I will be the happiest man on the whole damn planet, but until then, Zoe, I can't... I can't let this whole crazy merry go round of knives cut us both to pieces again.

"So, I'm gonna go to my bed, by myself, like I have every night since... And I think you should go to yours," he told her, not minding how surprised she looked. "Get some sleep, let this mess of a day pass by, and start over tomorrow. Figure out where you're going, doc, and how you want things to be," he advised, picking up his things ready to go, "and try not to step on too many more people getting there," he added, turning around and walking away, no matter how much it hurt them both.

 _End of Part 1_

 **A/N2: Second part will be up ASAP. I have a feeling it's not going to come as easy to me as this which basically flew down onto the page, but hopefully you'll see it tomorrow... maybe Wednesday :)**

 **IMPORTANT: For those that don't know, I'm watching Hart of Dixie for the first time and trying to avoid spoilers, so while I will be extremely grateful for any reviews I might get on this story I would appreciate nothing that might spoil me for Seasons 3 or 4. Many thanks in advance :)**


	2. Part 2 of 2

**A/N: The second half, as promised :)**

 _ **(For disclaimer, etc. - see Part 1)**_

Part 2 of 2

It was too early for people to be knocking on his door and Wade couldn't think who he was going to find on the other side. He knew who he would like it to be and smiled a little when he realised he got his wish.

"Morning."

"Hi," said Zoe, looking less than chipper still. "Listen, I just... I wanted to apologise for last night."

"Me too," Wade admitted. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, Wade, please," she cut in fast. "You... you really told me some things that I needed to hear. It made me think, a lot, about what I've been doing with my life. It's so weird, I always had my career all figured out, and then that took a weird swerve, but I'm where I want to be with that now, I love my job. Apparently, that old saying about one part of your life going well means another part has to go wrong definitely holds true for me. Career, great. Love life, train wreck.

"Anyway, I... I thought a lot about what you said. _A lot_. Honestly, I barely slept at all from thinking about it. First, I got sad about it, and then I got mad at you for saying those things to me and making me feel sad, and finally, I realised just how right you really were," she told him, meeting his eyes after a long time of looking everywhere else.

"I'm not proud of myself, Wade. I _did_ use you. I used your feelings for me and I am so sorry for that. You didn't deserve it. As much as you could be kind of an ass when we first met, you were really there for me. I kept thinking that I had pretty much zero friends in this town, except for Lavon, but when I look back and remember all the things you did for me, and I wasn't even nice to you."

"All feels like a long time ago now, doc," he told her, because it was the truth, but also because he couldn't bear to see the tears welling in her eyes again.

"I guess," she agreed, nodding her head, "but it doesn't mean it's okay. I need you to know that I'm sorry, Wade. I need you to believe me when I say that I didn't entirely realise what I was doing, not when you were being a good friend and maybe not even when we started... being together," she said with a significant look.

Wade smirked, unable to be anything but amused by the fact that even now she couldn't just say 'sex' and have done with it.

"I went in with my eyes open, Zoe," he reminded her, leaning on the door jamb. "A part of me always figured we were just marking time until you and Tucker... Well, you know."

"I know, and for what it's worth, it helps me understand a little more where all that defeatist attitude you had came from. I may not be the cause of all those inferiority issues that you had, but I sure didn't help at all. I made you feel like second best and that's... God, I was a horrible person."

It seemed to be hitting her all over again in that moment as her hand covered her mouth and the tears finally fell. It made Wade want to cry too, but one of them had to be stronger.

"Come on, doc," he told her, swallowing the lump in his throat. "You think I'd still feel the way I do about you if you were so bad? You screwed up, we both did. Doesn't make us the worst people in the world. Just proves we're human, I guess."

"I guess," she told him, smiling slightly and sniffing hard. "Anyway, I wanted to apologise for before, and for last night, when I..."

She made a vague gesture with her hand, avoiding the s-e-x word a second time. When a burst of laughter escaped her then, it actually made Wade jump a little.

"It's kind of insane, isn't it?" she said, shaking her head. "You, with the reputation you have, and me being the one to... And you say I'm not a horrible person."

"At least you didn't cheat on anybody."

Wade almost regretted the words the moment they were out of his mouth, half-afraid that he just made a bad situation worse, but apparently not.

Zoe sighed heavily, wiping her cheeks with the backs of her hands.

"We really are a couple of screw ups."

"Any ideas on what we do about that, doc?"

"Maybe," she admitted, meeting his gaze one more time. "Look, I'm going away for a while, to New York. My friend is getting married and I was going for the wedding anyway, but I think I might stay longer. If I can get a job, well, I could be gone all summer."

"All summer?"

"Three months, but that's a good thing, right? I mean, I think we could both use a little time apart. I know we've been apart, but real time and distance, it could help give us some perspective."

"I thought you got that from all your thinking last night."

"I got some. Enough to know why I've been acting like an even crazier person than usual these past few months," she said with another small smile. "I realised that there was no way you could've hurt me as much as you did if I... if I didn't love you, and I do, Wade. I love you and I'm hoping that somehow, one day, we'll both be able to move forward and figure this whole mess out, because I don't know about you but I would really like a second chance at us."

She rushed it out so fast, he almost thought he heard wrong, but no. She said she loved him, that was what he heard, and then the words 'second chance.' For a second, Wade wondered if he was dreaming.

"Second chance sounds good," he said, more softly than he meant to.

She moved in closer, reached up to plant a kiss on his cheek, and he knew it was all real.

"So, in three months, we'll see," she said, stepping back again.

"We'll see," he agreed, nodding his head, watching her back up to the edge of the porch. "Take care of yourself, doc."

"You too," she replied, with a little wave, before she turned and walked away.

* * *

"How you doin' there, Wade?"

"I'm fine, Lemon," he snapped at her, focusing all his attention on cleaning the bar top just a little too vigorously.

It was late on Monday, just three days since Zoe had upped and left for New York and already he was missing her like hell.

"I was just askin'," said Lemon in a small voice, so unlike herself that Wade actually felt bad.

He should be nicer. She really had been trying the last couple of days, trying to be kind because she knew how things were with him and Zoe, how these three months were likely to tear him in half if he wasn't careful. Looking up from his work, he met her eyes and forced a smile.

"I'm doing okay," he promised her. "Thanks for askin'."

She smiled back at him and then her eyes flew to the door as it opened. Wade wasn't really paying attention anymore, not until Lemon spoke again.

"Well, I think in a minute you might be doing a whole lot better."

"What's that now?"

Wade was watching Lemon, waiting for her to answer his question but she just upped and walked away. He never noticed who had come in and sat down on the stool until she ordered her drink.

"White wine please, bartender?"

With wide eyes, he turned slowly to see her sitting there, all big brown eyes and that familiar smile he had missed so much, long before she ever went away. Nodding his head, he reached for a glass and the wine bottle, pouring her drink and placing it before her.

"Wow. Those three months sure did go fast," he said, smiling as he watched her blush.

"They do say time flies when you're having fun," said Zoe, sipping from her glass, "not that I had much fun. The truth is there was really nothing keeping me in New York, and lots of things seemed to be calling me back to Bluebell."

"Lots of things?"

"One thing more than most," Zoe confessed, glancing up to meet his eyes. "Look, Wade, what happened with us... You were right, we both screwed up, but I know now that I can forgive you for your part, and I can learn to trust you again, so if you can forgive-"

He couldn't listen to any more of what she had to say, there was no way. Wade just had to be kissing Zoe right then, he couldn't stand to wait another second. The bar between them made it kind of uncomfortable, but that didn't matter, he was kissing Zoe Hart again, after way too long without.

"I already forgave you a long time ago, doc," he promised when they parted. "I was just waiting on you."

"It took a little while," she said, her hand at his cheek, "but not as long as I thought. Three months suddenly felt like a lifetime and I just couldn't wait that long."

"Welcome home, Zoe Hart," he said, moving in to kiss her again with a smile on his lips.

They loved each other, they had forgiven each other, and for now, all was very much right in the world.

 _The End_


End file.
